Easy Crawdad/Crayfish Pattern for smallmouths

[6wt8wt]

I was wondering if there where any simple crawdad/crayfish patterns that could be tied by a beginner. I am having trouble finding one that I can tie correctly. Any suggestions or any other easy to tie smallmouth patterns? Thanks.

[rainbowchaser]

A tan or olive beadhead wooly bugger makes an impressionistic crawdad.

[CoachBob]

Go here and watch Episode 303

http://kwsu.org/Offers/FlyTying.aspx

[DManley]

Coach Bob speaks the truth! That video is the gospel! As soon as I saw the title, I started searching through my bookmarks for this very link.

I use that very same fly for most of my crayfish fishing. I watched that very video a couple of years ago and have learned the pattern. I even tied it for a swap recently. Great on smallmouth bass, gills, even perch and walleye sometimes! (Yes, we do fly fish for walleye up here!) I tie it from about an 8 or 10 all the way up to a 2.

In slightly smaller sizes (6-12) it can be tied with light tan chenille (Or wool dubbing in the 8-12 range) and tan or ginger hackle. Pick up some lighter squirrel tail, or even use gray squirrel, and bingo. You have a molting crayfish. When the real crays are molting, the fish can get a bit picky for color so carry a few different shades with you.

A wooly bugger also works well. Before I started tying the crayfish from the video, I would tie a wooly bugger with a large bushy tail. I would also split the tail a bit, or tie in two feathers to imitate claws. One neat variation was the wooly bugger wound with 2 hackles, and the tips of the hackles tied in for tails. I have also made hair tailed wooly buggers with split tails of squirrel tail. They were sort of an evolutionary step on my way to learning ofthe simple crayfish pattern.

Good Luck,
Dave

[6wt8wt]

Thanks. That video really helped. I just tied that pattern and i'm sure I can get good at it in a little bit.

[TxEngr]

Take a look at this one as well - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDgmjGtMgpI

[AtticaFish]

Go here and watch Episode 303

http://kwsu.org/Offers/FlyTying.aspx

WOW! Great link, thanks! Sure wish there was something like that on my PBS stations. I thank computer geeks everywhere for the internet!!!!

[DG]

Yep, a woolly bugger works just fine. If you want to get more realistic, split the tails, substitute some pheasant feathers clipped to look like claws, use mono eyes instead of a bead...

The bugger will still catch just as many fish but you might feel better about the one that looks more like a crawdad to you.